Heritage Voices: the big picture of heritage from EU and Cypriot perspective by Androulla Vassiliou

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: As a European commissioner you were responsible for heritage in Europe in its entirety, what were your priorities?

Androulla Vassiliou: Don’t forget that it was a time of the big economic crisis and all the European Union Institutions were paying attention to industry, commerce, trade, etc.  I came to realise that education and culture are very important, because unless you have these two you cannot change the attitude of the people. And let us not underestimate the economic value of culture as well. I gave other European commissioners figures showing that the income from various  cultural and cultural heritage activities are bigger than the automotive industry or pharmaceuticals.(archeological sites, museums, opera and music festivals etc.)

Moreover, I came to realise that culture and cultural heritage, together with sport, are the most important tools  in bringing people together from different backgrounds. Because once you are involved and you strive for the restoration of cultural heritage, which is common to everybody it is our common European cultural heritage. Therefore, people unite through cultural heritage and culture. So, this is the reason why I was the first commissioner to give a special emphasis on culture and cultural heritage. And the Creative Europe programme was considerably strengthened with this intention in mind.

John Beauchamp: With regards to cultural heritage, what did you find the most challenging as commissioner? What kind of tactic did you have to use to actively promote cultural heritage? What did you find the awareness of Europeans to be of their own cultural heritage? And what did you have to do to create a kind common platform to really get into the minds of Europeans that we actually have this common cultural heritage?

Androulla Vassiliou: Well, it was not easy. It was not easy to make them realise that my culture and cultural heritage is something which belongs to others as well. So, it needed an effort to do so. But I think we have succeeded gradually to install  this mindset in people. Because now, if you ask even the ordinary man in the street whether it is important to maintain and protect our common cultural heritage, they would say “yes”. Even talking about cultural heritage, which is not absolutely within the physical boundaries of European Union, in the neighbouring countries, you see the importance that the people give to that.

For example, what happened after the invasion of Russia in Ukraine. People realised that by destroying the cultural heritage of Ukraine, they destroyed the cultural heritage of Europe as a whole  our common cultural heritage. Even going further, when we had the destruction of cultural heritage in Syria, people were really terrified by the fact that all these beautiful monuments are being destroyed because of war and conflict.

So, people now have it in their mindset to protect and have a feeling of belonging to a common cultural heritage.

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: Can you refer to an example of a case that was especially close to your heart and tell us about behind-the-scenes policy making? I don’t think everybody is aware of the various steps that need to be taken before a final document is produced.

Androulla Vassiliou: Well, I must tell you that one of the very strong memories that I have from my mandate as Commissioner for Education and Culture is the following. I remember that negotiations between the European Union and the United States for a trade agreement had started. So, the College of Commissioners   had to give a mandate  to the Commissioner who was in charge for the negotiations. At the time, it was a Belgian Commissioner. And we were discussing in the college about this mandate. And I said: “Listen, dear colleagues, I think that we have to exempt culture from the negotiations.”

And when I talk about culture, I include cultural heritage. The College  was  not able to take a decision. And after that, I asked for a private meeting with President of the European Commission José Barroso. I tried to convince him about this exemption of culture. He said: “Oh, no, no, Androulla, because once we start exempting different areas , then the Americans will start to demand exemptions themselves. And we don’t want this.” I said that this goes into the roots of European heritage and that you cannot negotiate something which belongs to us. But he was adamant about it, so we went back to the college.

And all the commissioners, with the exemption of two, supported Barroso. The two who supported me were the French and Italian commissioners. So, we failed. But then it went to the Council. In the Council, everything which has to do with culture  must be adopted  by unanimity.. France vetoed it, and it didn’t pass. So, we won in the Council.

I will never forget my next visit to the Cannes Festival, where they welcomed me as if I was Napoleon coming back from a victorious battle. It was so important for the Europeans to feel that they are masters of their identity, of their cultural identity. And cultural heritage is so close to our cultural identity.

I will never forget the outrage of all the filmmakers who came outside the  Berlaymont  to protest against Barroso. And I  had warned him: “Mr. President, you are going to have a lot of opposition,” to which he said “No, I don’t think so”.

John Beauchamp: How do you see the heritage landscape since you stopped being a commissioner? It’s been over a decade now, so how has it evolved since then, is it the way you wanted it to evolve?

Androulla Vassiliou: Well, there was a stagnation for five years during the mandate of the Hungarian commissioner. He was not interested in heritage matters at all. But the remaining commissioners were very good, they continued and increased the interest for cultural heritage. I’m very pleased about that. Of course, we cannot be absolutely content with what is happening. But this is not the fault of the commissioner for culture, but the Commission in general and especially to the Council.

It’s the priorities that you have every time. When you have COVID, you are not thinking about cultural heritage, you think about health. When you have social problems, then you have to think about culture and cultural heritage. Because, as I said in the beginning, this is a way to unite people and make them feel part of the community. I have one great fear, however. At present it seems that the priorities have shifted towards Defence. And the majority of European Leaders give emphasis on defence expenditure. I am afraid that the victim of that will be, as usual, education, culture and cultural heritage, and health.

I haven’t met the present Commissioner, but I am very optimistic that he will continue  going in the right direction. We have to include culture and cultural heritage in the priorities of European Union policies.

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: The research of the mapping of the NGO heritage sector that we have recently finalised demonstrates that there is a lot of potential in civil society working in the area of heritage. Do you think this could be better exploited by European structures to make it more complementary to public initiatives and this way more effective?

Androulla Vassiliou: I think it is a way for them to progress towards their final destination, which is protection of European culture and cultural heritage. But also as a means to achieve other ends. And this goes for the neighbouring countries as well. And I think Europa Nostra Hub in Kraków has this priority in mind as well: to protect and expand our activities to neighbouring countries.

This is what Cyprus Nicosia Hub is trying to do in a very, very difficult region. It is much more difficult for NGOs in our region to survive because of conflict. In order to be able to do their work of protecting cultural heritage, they have to get away from these conflicts or to use these conflicts as an indication to ordinary people that by embracing heritage NGOs they will protect their cultural identity.

But NGOs are not very well accepted by the authorities in these countries. So, we have to be very careful of which NGOs we include in order to be able to achieve our goals of linking Europe and the Middle East. It’s becoming more and more important because of the continuation of the conflict. It is more difficult for the NGOs of the region to survive. When people are starving you cannot convince them that heritage is more important.

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: Before we develop the conversation on the Hub in Nicosia, let’s stay for a moment at a more general level of civil society in Europe. In our research in the mapping project NGOs were indicating that their recognition is very slight, that they’re simply not recognised as partners, as an important element of the society working for the benefit of heritage. From your perspective, does the European Union have mechanisms that could improve this situation? Do you think that anything in this respect could be done on the level of the EU, or is it rather a matter of authorities in particular countries?

Androulla Vassiliou: I think we would be super optimistic to say that they could be included in the central organisation. But that’s why regional hubs of Europa Nostra have been created – to give voice to the NGOs of the regions and make better use of their knowledge of the regions. So, through the hubs, I think we can reach different geographical regions  which the Centre cannot reach. I think this is the importance of the hubs: to achieve decentralisation and better exploitation of the local knowledge of the people.

John Beauchamp: How do you feel NGOs in the regions in Europe can become more resilient in terms of finance and also serving the societies in which they are functioning?

Androulla Vassiliou: I think it varies from region to region. It depends what support they get from the local authorities, but most importantly, from civil society. Because in order to thrive and be successful in their work, they have to get a lot of support from civil society.

John Beauchamp: So it’s not just money, but actually getting people to rally around.

Androulla Vassiliou: Yes, of course, exactly. To get the physical presence of people in the various initiatives and activities of NGOs  is very important because they give you the power to show that this is what the NGOs are all about. Because if we speak with the voice of a big number of people, then the result is different than if you speak with the presence of five or ten people. The bigger the number that rally besides you, the more chances you have to succeed.

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: You are the Vice-President of Europa Nostra and the Head of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Nicosia which is a window outside Europe. What is your view of heritage matters from Nicosia?

Androulla Vassiliou: Although it varies from region to region, I think Cyprus has a lot of similarities with countries of the Middle East region. For example, we are talking about marine archaeology. If you look at the findings of the archaeologists, you will see the connection with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Crete, Malta. So it’s a common denominator. Also, intangible heritage. Whether we speak about songs, dances, pottery or embroidery, this is what connects us with our past and our ancestors.

John Beauchamp: I remember during the official inauguration of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Nicosia in February 2025 you were explaining about the intangibility of the heritage of the whole Levant region and how Cyprus is very well positioned in that respect to be, let’s say, a gate to Europe. But  a gate which opens to the Eastern Mediterranean region as well…

Androulla Vassiliou: The only problem that we face nowadays is  the war and the extreme views about this conflict in the area, the priority of the NGOs dealing with cultural heritage is heritage in conflict areas and conflict times. So, this is what they have in mind. And it is not very easy for us to connect with them in these fields in particular, because of the special circumstances.

So, we have to wait a l bit longer for things to calm down in order to get them on board and see in which areas we can work together. Of course, we have also our experience of heritage in war and conflict. And that is why the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage in Cyprus has given the priority of saving a lot of monuments and sites. Their work could become  a model for all the Middle East countries.

But this is not easy to be done everywhere. You have to find the right people who believe in it. And it is up to them to do that, not for us from outside to tell them how to do it.

But they can use it as an example. And many people from the area come and have a meeting with the members of the Cultural Heritage Committee to see how they work. When they work on saving a monument, they don’t think as Greek Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots, but as Cypriots who want to save their heritage.

And this is the big picture. Our priority as European NGOs  whether we  are Polish or Danish or Germans, we  want to save cultural heritage anywhere in Europe.

You may remember when we were presenting the European Heritage Awards immediately after the invasion of Russia in Ukraine, there were so many projects from European countries in relation to Ukraine. Because they felt that the destruction of Ukrainian heritage is the destruction of their heritage as well.

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: Can you refer to the activities of the Nicosia Heritage Hub and tell us what projects, what initiatives are you undertaking? What is planned for the future?

Androulla Vassiliou: We have a meeting in the upcoming days to decide on  the programme for the next period of the European Heritage Hub. I called a meeting of the members in order to get their feedback, because I cannot act on my own, I have to get the feelings of our members. We have different things in mind. For example, the dying skills regarding the saving of cultural heritage. And marine archaeology, which connects people from the area. Also intangible heritage attracts a lot of interest from Cyprus and from the area.

We have another very big responsibility ahead of us, to organise the 2026t Europa Nostra Summit. We want to have special sessions and debates involving regions: Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean, the Mare Nostrum. I think it will be very interesting for all of us to have a debate on that issue.

Katarzyna Jagodzińska: To wrap up our conversation I would like to ask what are your major concerns and challenges? You already mentioned the difficult heritage, also difficult position that Nicosia has as a divided city.

Androulla Vassiliou: The major challenge is for a smooth cooperation and working together with the other community of Cyprus. For the time being, we have managed to get on board both mayors of the divided capital. We have managed to get on board two Turkish Cypriots who will be  members of our Board. And we have also registered as members a number of individuals from the Turkish Cypriot Community  who are interested and eager to work with us. So, it’s a good start.

But we have to work very, very patiently and with a lot of attention. Because of the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community who are against getting together between the two Communities.. They are not interested about uniting people. On the contrary, they want to show that we are not at all able to cooperate and live together, which is not true for the ordinary people. So, this is the most important challenge. The second big challenge is to make Cypriots realise that it’s about time that they get out of their comfort zone and get out in the streets and make their voice heard about saving our cultural heritage.

15 July 2025